Ripples Over Choice of former Oil Chief as UN COP29 President-Designate

By Yemi Olakitan

As Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Mukhtar Babayev was named president-designate of the UNFCCC COP29 climate conference, scheduled to be held in 2024, environmentalists have cried foul.

Some environmentalists frowned at Sultan Al-Jaber’s choice for the COP presidency, saying he may have a conflict of interest as someone who ran the UAE’s national oil company.

Babayev previously headed Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, before being appointed minister in 2018.

He will be the second consecutive oil executive to head a COP conference, after United Arab Emirates’s Sultan Al-Jaber, the head of state oil company ADNOC, who chaired the conference last year

However, he ultimately oversaw a breakthrough global agreement at the summit to transition away from fossil fuels, converting some sceptics into fans.

Baku’s presidency over the next COP conference was the result of “fraught negotiations,” it was gathered.

The decision has garnered criticism from some environmentalists, who worry about the presidency being granted to another oil and gas-reliant nation.

“The world will need more action to phase out fossil fuels at COP29 and, as a major oil producer, Azerbaijan will need to listen to its critics,” a source stated.